French engineer Mekies, previously team principal at Red Bull ’s sister F1 team Racing Bulls, has taken over from Horner and is at the helm this weekend for the Belgian Grand Prix. Mekies previously enjoyed a near-decade stint at Toro Rosso, the old name for Red Bull’s sister team, and also has experience to his name at Ferrari and the FIA.

Laurent Mekies takes charge of Red Bull as its new team principal for a first F1 weekend since Christian Horner’s sacking. Max Verstappen has already held “multiple” talks with the Frenchman during “intense weeks”,

Max Verstappen has been even more heavily linked with a move from Red Bull to F1 rivals Mercedes since long-serving team boss Christian Horner was replaced by Laurent Mekies